Op/Ed

Trump Should Act on US Senators Nelson and
Rubio's Appeal to Fill FL Federal Judgeships

Posted June 28, 2017 05:40 am | Op-Ed

By
Linda Geller-Schwartz

Donald Trump has been mired in controversy his first
few months in office, and by his own admission, the job
of being President is harder than he thought. But Trump
has an opportunity to get something meaningful done
quickly and in a bipartisan fashion for Floridians. He
can act on an appeal from our two Senators, Bill
Nelson and Marco Rubio to fill vacant seats in our
federal courts.

These two senators have jointly asked the president
to renominate three of President Barack Obama’s judicial
nominees to Florida’s federal courts who had been vetted
and approved by both Senators, but left waiting for
hearings (along with Supreme Court nominee Merrick
Garland) when their nominations expired in January.

Sens. Nelson and Rubio’s rare show of bipartisanship
couldn’t come at a better time for Florida’s federal
courts. There are currently seven federal judicial
vacancies in Florida and five of them are formally
classified as “judicial emergencies,” meaning there
simply are not enough judges to handle the growing
caseload. As judicial vacancies remain unfilled,
Floridians who rely on our court system are the ones who
suffer.

Last year, the watchdog group Integrity Florida
issued a report detailing the myriad ways that lengthy
judicial vacancies delay and deny justice for
Floridians. Prolonged judicial vacancies inevitably
result in case delays, higher caseloads, increased
administrative stress and judicial burnout. Such
judicial vacancies “threaten the timely administration
of justice in both criminal and civil cases” according
to the report.

In their letter, the senators asked the president to
renominate Patricia Barksdale and William Jung for
vacancies in the Middle District of Florida, and Phillip
Lammens in the Northern District. With our courts
already stretched razor thin, it only makes sense to
move these qualified bipartisan nominees through the
process rather than starting over from scratch. To
underscore this point, Nelson and Rubio make clear in
their letter that “timely action is needed as the two
vacancies in the Middle District are considered judicial
emergencies.”

The letter also refers to the failure of Senate
leaders to take “timely action in the last Congress.” In
addition to the highly publicized blocking of Obama’s
Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, Senate
Republicans in recent years have refused to act on
numerous lower court vacancies, causing the number of
judicial vacancies to skyrocket.

As a result, President Trump now faces the daunting
task of filling more than 120 federal court vacancies.
Where there are qualified, bipartisan candidates
available to be renominated, it makes sense for the
president to act quickly. Failing to address these
vacancies threatens the stability and fairness of our
justice system and delays justice for Americans seeking
their day in court.

Floridians expect and deserve to have a fair and
functioning judicial system, and that requires our
courts to be working at full capacity. Sens. Nelson and
Rubio should be commended for setting aside partisan
politics for the sake of our judicial system and the
public interest. For his part, President Trump should
take notice and heed their advice.

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Linda
Geller-Schwartz is Florida State Policy Advocate for the
National Council of Jewish Women.Column courtesy of
Florida Politics.

Image and layout added by the
Observer

This piece was reprinted by the Columbia County
Observer with permission or license.